Slide 1

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
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Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
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Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 2

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 3

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 4

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
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Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 5

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 6

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 7

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 8

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 9

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 10

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 11

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 12

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 13

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 14

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 15

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 16

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 17

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 18

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 19

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 20

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 21

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
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Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 22

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 23

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

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Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 24

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
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Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 25

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 26

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 27

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 28

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 29

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 30

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 31

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 32

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 33

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 34

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 35

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 36

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 37

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 38

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 39

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 40

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 41

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

Home

Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

Home

Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 42

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 43

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 44

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 45

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 46

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 47

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 48

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 49

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 50

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 51

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 52

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 53

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 54

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 55

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 56

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 57

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 58

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
Home

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 59

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 60

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
Home

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 61

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 62

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
Home

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 63

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 64

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 65

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
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Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 66

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 67

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 68

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 69

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 70

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 71

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
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Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
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Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 72

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
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Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
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Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 73

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 74

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

Home

In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 75

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
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Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 76

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 77

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 78

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 79

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 80

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

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Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

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Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

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Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 81

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 82

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 83

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 84

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
Home

Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 85

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 86

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 87

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 88

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 89

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 90

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 91

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 92

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
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Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 93

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

Home

Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 94

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

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Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 95

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
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Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 96

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 97

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

Home

Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 98

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 99

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 100

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 101

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 102

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 103

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 104

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 105

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 106

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
Home

Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 107

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 108

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

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Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 109

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Definiti

Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 110

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 111

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 112

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
Home

Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

Definiti

Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

Home

Definiti

Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

Home

Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

Definiti

1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

Definiti

Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

Definiti

Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 113

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
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Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

Home

Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 114

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 115

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Home

Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 116

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
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Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 117

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

Definiti

 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 118

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 119

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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+

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 120

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 121

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

Home

Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 122

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

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LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

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Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
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2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

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Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

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Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

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Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

Definiti

SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 123

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

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Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
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Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
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Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 124

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

Home

3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Home

Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definiti

Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

Home

Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Home

Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Home

Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

Home

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)


Slide 125

Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in
Small and Medium Enterprises
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No. 265096

Bioplastics:
LCA to go E-Learning course
Revised version 24.02.2014
Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry
Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

Introductio
n

Lower your impact on the environment,
heighten the impact of your business
Improving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle
can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you
with the information you need to inform better decision making within your
business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions
and

2. Secure supply chain
materials and reduce
products

3. Comply with legislation
responsibilities and
regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify
conscious

5. Achieve brand loyalty
customers
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Cut down on wastage during manufacturing
save costs by maximising efficiency
Identify supply risks of rare raw
the use of rare raw materials in your

Manage your environmental legal
avoid costly changes to comply with new

Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding
market and gain competitor advantage
Build trust and relationships with your
with a brand that cares
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is LCA to go?

Home

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since
the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant
boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics,
industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart
textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the
complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental
Assessment.
LCA to go will enable:
• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of their systems
• manufacturers of plastic products to assess the environmental and optionally
operational cost performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to
conventional oil-based based plastics
• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental
performance of their products
• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and
communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products
• machine tool manufacturers to identify potential environmental improvement
options
• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial
benefits of installing a sensor system
• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and
improve the environmental performance of PCBs
Definiti

Introductio
n

What is a Product’s Life Cycle?
Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life
cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use
and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural
environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back
into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions
into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based
assessment to determine a products environmental performance.
Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can
enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements
opportunities.

Home

Definiti

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Bio-based
plastics with the LCA to go online tool

Introduction
Step by step e-learning: Bio-based plastics
1. Define the scope
2. Collect data
3. Model the Life Cycle
4. Enter data
5. Review the result
6. Interpret the result & derive
improvements

Bio-based plastics Case Study

Definitions

Sector specific course / Step 1

1.

Definition of the product &

scope

Substeps:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Define the goal of the study
Define the functional unit
Define the reference flow
Define the product system and the unit
processes
e. Draw a process tree
f. Define the system boundaries of all 5
life cycle stages
g. Define other requirements
Home

2

Definiti

Step 1

1.a. Define the goal of the study
i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?
Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target
audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these
very important factors throughout the study.
ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal
definition?
A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:
•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);
•the target audience (Who?);
•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)
iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?
The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during
the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take
the current study as a basis) should be made.
An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department
and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication
purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use
the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study,
focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.i Define a Functional Unit
What is a Functional unit?
• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy
required to accomplish a certain function.
• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the
supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L
glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange
juice.
• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet
service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C
• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion
machine A and extrusion machine B
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.b.ii Define a Functional Unit
Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?
• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between
products, materials and equipment. This will ensure that all
studied systems are fully comparable.
How can I define a functional unit?
• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly
the function/s provided by the product to be analysed and then
assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the
same function or not.

Paint

Home

Main function:
Having painted
a wall

Definiti

Functional unit
1 m2

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.c. Define a Reference Flow
What is a Reference flow?
• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish
a certain function provided by a product service.
• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of
wall.
Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?
• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as
a basis for comparisons.
• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully
comparable
How can I define a Reference flow?
• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m²
of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solventbased paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of
paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called
reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison
Functional unit
1 m2

Amount of waterbased paint
required for the
functional unit
Amount of solventbased paint
required for the
functional unit

Home

Definiti

1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.d. Define a Product System and the
Unit Processes
What is a product system?
A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the
function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be
defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example
for a PLA-based carrier bag below.
What is a unit process?
A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and
outputs is available
What information do I need to define the product system and the unit
processes?
You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain
product system

Corn growing
& harvesting
(materials)

PLA pellet
processing

Input of raw
materials
Input of water
Home

Input of energy

Film
extrusion
PLA film

Printing
and diecut

Output of emissions to soil,
water or air, solid waste, etc.

Definiti

Transport
and
delivery

Use

Outflows between unitary
processes
Unit process

Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 1

1.e.i Draw a process tree
Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I
use it?
Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you
understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your
life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree
usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you
to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle
modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?
Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in
general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for
the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also
shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the
product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its
disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you
have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.e.ii Draw a process tree
What is a process tree?
A process tree is a flowchart, where all relevant material flows, energy
flows, emissions and other streams are depicted.The process tree should
represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An
example is used in Step 1.d. and another example for a PLA bottle is shown
below – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent
and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product. The process
tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the
functional unit.
Excluded stages
Injection Strech Blow moulding (ISB)

24,6 kg

25,36 kg

PLA pellets (corn

NY-VLC 8670
km

based)

Drying
pellets

Nebraska-NY1756 km (>32t)

PLA preform
injection

Stretch Blow
Moulding

(1st stage ISB)

(2nd ISB)

25,36 kg

Cap and label omitted for
simplification purposes

Filling of the
bottles

25,36kg

VLC-HU 450 km (7,5-16t)
0,76 kg

Waste of pre-forms and
bottles(3%)

24,6 kg

Packaging
and
delivery
Packaging for delivery: strech film,
shrink film, pallet EUR
Home

Supermarket/enduser

Distribution centre
HU-BCN
276 km (>32t)

34,1634 kg (Transport
packaging)

BCN-BCN
56 km (7,5-16t)

(consumer)

End-of-life of the
bottle
BCN-BCN
25 km

(20% composting)

58,7634 kg

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.i Define the system boundary
for all 5 life cycle stages
Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle
stages?
You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system.
This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials,
Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:
•
Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per
unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount
of products are delivered).
•
Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be
included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance
operations are often required.
How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?
The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which
aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track
the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle
diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.f.ii Define the system boundary for
all 5 life cycle stages
Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

Following the
logic of the
Process tree,
please include all
relevant raw
materials included
in the product.
Please take into
account that even
small quantities
of some raw
materials (e.g.
some specialty
chemicals,
additives etc.)
can have a large
effect on the
environment.

End of life

Most likely, this Depending on the
Use your process
Depending on your
stage may be under product and the
tree to determine product, the
your direct
packaging needed, where to set your contained raw
control and it
the Distribution
boundary in this
materials, the
will be easy to
stage can have an stage. As an
need for
obtain data.
impact. Make sure example, for a
disassembly or the
Depending on the
to include the
truck, the use
need for a long
product, the
shipment method as stage is very
transport before
Manufacturing can well as the
important and the disposal, may all
have a significant packaging. Step 3. boundary should
be factors that
impact. Make sure b. shows an
not only include
should be included
to include all
example on what to fuel consumption
in the End of life
relevant energy
do with multiple
but also
Stage.
and raw material
shipping
maintenance needs
flows in this
destinations.
such as tires,
stage, including
spare parts, oil,
the manufacturing
etc.
waste, as it may
be relevant for
the products Life
Cycle.
For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be
applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental
assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at:
http://www.environdec.com/en/PCR/
Home

Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

1.g. Define other requirements
for the system boundary
What other requirements are there for the system boundary?
Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it
is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological
requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data
that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend
to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your
product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific
technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?
Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your
study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal
and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 2

2.

Collect data

Substeps:
a.Identify necessary data
b.Define the depth and quality
of data needed
c.Identify & keep track of data
source
d.Identify and track the data
quality
1

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3

Definiti

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product
life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which
defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some
background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials
production.
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come
from the specification or experts
• For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on
• Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the
final product. This can be done by:
• measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line
• deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line
through the number of units produced
• Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.i Identify necessary data
What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?
If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:
• For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as
packaging materials used
• For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the
country / region where the product or system is used
• For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling
practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your
product.

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 1

2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:
Materials and Manufacturing
What is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be
defined?
A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/
manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global
environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an
internet mobile modem based on the bill of materials
Component

%wt

ABS shell

75 47,0%

PCB

50 31,3%

Display

23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x
12)

8

Chip A

2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5)

1 0,6%

Chip C
Cristal oscillator
Total
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Weight
(g)

5,0%

0,5 0,3%
0,02 0,0%
159,52 100 %
Definiti

Decision rule: Exclude all
materials, contributing
less than 1 % of the total
weight of the final
product.

These components can be
excluded as they do not
represent more than 1% of
total materials to the
product system, reducing
substantially the efforts
for data collection!!! Be
careful not to exclude
small amounts of high
impact materials such as
rare earth metals.
Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.a.iii Identify necessary data:
Distribution, Use, End of life:
Multiple clients
I have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data
do I need?
Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the
product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios
as shown in Step 3.
The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an
Distribution
Use
End of life
example, if youMarket
know share
where you
ship a certain product
by market share,
then
(all by truck)
(Use profiles may vary (may vary depending
Country
(Clients)
you may
develop a table as shown below:
on the client)
client)
Poland
France
Sweden

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[%]
50%
40%
10%

[km]

[kWh / Year]
1000
500
2000

7,000
9,000
4,000

Incineration
Landfill
Recycling

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming
that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to
France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for
specific clients. The required information remains the same.
Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport
distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a
relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very
detailed and accurate figures.
Definiti

Step 2

2.b.i Define the depth and quality of
data needed
To what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?
The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain
dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry,
the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is
extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very
large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very
high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large
amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail.
Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so
efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.
Some examples:
• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important
to enter the correct location and the corresponding electricity grid
mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime,
this becomes even more relevant.
• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental
impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the
amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of
high importance in these cases.
• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very
important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing
cycles over its lifetime.
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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.b.ii Define the depth and quality
of data needed
Can I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s
environmental impact and add more detailed data later?
Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding
which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the
analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment
with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine
data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the
assessment step by step. Please see an example below of a first rough
Global Warming (kg CO -eq)
assessment:
2

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
(1000 units)
Unitary weight: 12.5
g

Home

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the
processing and packaging
requirements for delivery
to customers

Definiti

Step 2

2.c.i Identify & keep track of data
source
Where can I find the data I am looking for?
Good data sources are:
• Product specifications
• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any
supply chain data management
• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental
data
• Material Safety Data Sheets
• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not
feature the background datasets you are looking for; free public
available data sources include:
•
CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers
University
http://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/
•
Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations, like
Plastics Europe:
http://www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/ecoprofiles.aspx

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Definiti

Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to deal with data gaps?
Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions.
Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in
your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data
gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be
relevant in the results.
Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental
issues throughout the whole product life cycle.
Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and
suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is
no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire
A real

for supplier data?

life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.c.v Identify & keep track of data
source
How to inquire for supplier data?
A real life example….
What is the problem:
• Delayed reply
• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which
methodological assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes
are included, are upstream processes included and how are they
accounted?)
• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is
“worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes
significantly with average / best case values, then further
clarification would be worthwhile
• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further
communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power
consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:
Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and
expectations. Provide clear guidance.
Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of
robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries.
Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.i Identify and track the data
quality
What is meant by data quality?
For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life
cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly
guess-work and thus uncertainty.
Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and
the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a
product or system.
As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data
quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for
processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control.
Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.ii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
Typically data quality has five dimensions:
(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only
estimated?
(2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?
(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?
(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are
produced or does the data refer to some other locations?
(5) Correlations in Technology

Are components and raw materials processed with the same technology
as for the system to be assessed?
Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to
assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the
tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for
the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong
raw material yields a wrong result.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iii Identify and track the data
quality
How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?
continued…
In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated
in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

Robust

high
Reliability
Completeness
Correlations in Time
Correlations in Geography
Correlations in Technology

DQI
score

Indicative

Data
quality

low
Illustrative

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Bio-based plastics

Step 2

2.d.iv Identify and track the data
quality
Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?
Assessing the data quality helps you
• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and
• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of
the assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact
Examples:

Data
quality
Robust

Data
quality
Robust

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative
Illustrative

Indicative data for Distribution is
 ok, life cycle stages with highest
„nice to have“ but „indicative“ level
impact feature high data quality
for Manufacturing is critical and
Data quality can be adjusted in the LCA to go tool
should be improved!
by clicking
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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 3

3.

Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into
a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Materials
stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution
stage
d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
2

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4

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Step 3

3.a.i Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
How can I best review the data and identify data gaps?
Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put
there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you
made. Example for a bottle for mineral water:
Life cycle
stage

Materials

raw
material/
substance
PLA bottle
PP cap
Strech-blow
moulding of
a PLA bottle

Amount

Unit

Data
gap

Data
needed?

12,3

g

No

Yes

Literature

3

g

No

Yes

Own data

12,3

g

Yes

Yes

Processing

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Assumption

I do not know the
precise
figures
to
estimate
the
processing of the PLA
bottle,
so
I
will
assume default data
about
strech-blow
moulding
of
PLA
available in LCA to
go bio-based plastics
tool

Bio-based plastics

Source

Literature

Step 3

3.a.ii Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary
Can I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates?
Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts
and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.
How can I relate the data to my functional unit?
Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

What’s better?

I cannot find
suitable LCA
data regarding
the strechblow moulding
of a PLA
bottle!!!!!!

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Assumption: assume
default data about
strech-blow
moulding of PLA
available in LCA
to go bio-based
plastics tool

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 A final result
which does not
consider the
impacts of
producing the
PLA bottle
 Achieving a
more complete
total result
which includes
a conservative
estimate for
the process
Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.b. Develop Scenarios for materials &
processing
What is a scenario for materials in the context of an environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool?
A scenario could be very useful when different raw material compositions need
to be analyzed. For instance, when different concentrations of additives are
considered (e.g.: pigments, stabilizers, etc.). This can also be done in case
of different processing techniques and processing parameters.
Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
product compositions. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a
product may be processed with different amount of either raw materials or
additives (e.g.: 5% wt pigment, 1% wt pigment, etc.) and processing parameters
How many scenarios should I define for the raw material stages?
This depends clearly on your interests. Our recommendation is to have a share
of opinions with the people responsible of material/product development in
your company. This can be done having a range of different compositions,
Main component
Pigment
Drying temperature
processingScenario
techniques & parameters,
which are
suitable
in accordance with the
desired properties
of Athe PLA
product.
Material scenario
corn-based
2% wt
60ºC

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Material scenario B

PLA corn-based

8% wt

59ºC

Material scenario C

PLA sugarcane-based

3.5%

63ºC

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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution
What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA
to go tool?
A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used?
Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different
possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an
environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use
intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what
happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations
and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute PLA clamshell to
Austria or Mexico, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).
How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?
This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage
compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the
difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with
a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution
stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop
several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The
LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for
a specific customer or market.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.c.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution
How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?
Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the
location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the
packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to
build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.
Market

National
(Spain)

Market share
40%
500 km

1270 km

Overseas
(Brazil)
Manufacturing plant
in Spain

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Market share 5%

+

Europe
(Sweden)

780 km

Market share
55%

+
6900 km

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1120 km

Bio-based plastics

Step 3

3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life
stage
How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?
Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the
geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios
according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of
one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths
for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration,
Steel->Landfill)
How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?
Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage:
Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the
life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a
lot of time and effort on building scenarios.
Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

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Country

Recycling

Incineration

Landfill

Spain

29%

22%

49%

France

24%

37%

39%

Finland

26%

19%

65%

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 4

4.

Enter data

Substeps:
a. Enter data in the LCA to go online tool
b. Understand why the data is needed and
what happens with the entered data

3

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5

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Step 4

4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Where can I find the tool?
You can access the tool from the project website
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create
an account first before entering data.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product

Customized life
cycle for each
sector

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data
into the LCA to go
tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“
for further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
Sectoral
guidance
on data
entries

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Model
your
product
life
cycle

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SelfCalculate
assessment results; will
of the
show results
quality of
only, if you
your data have entered a
entries
complete
dataset

Bio-based plastics

Optional
economic
assessment for
the bio-based
plastics tool.
Only for costs
under the
operational
and/or financial
control of the
SME

Step 4

4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

Comprehensive data
entry templates to
model the life
cycle stages one
by one

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
How can I enter data into
the LCA to go tool?
1)Create a new product
2)Go to „Introduction“ for
further
sectoral guidance or
directly to
„Data entry“
3)„Data entry“: Make
entries for your
product life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move
to the next
life cycle stage

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click
or
You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right
corner
online trainee

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?
Just click on the
„status“button to
return to your
data entries
any time

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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online
tool
Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the
duplicate
icon to make
a copy of
your product
entries for
calculating
a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?
No. Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is
only accessible with your account details.
The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it.
Therefore, only the user can access their own data.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 4

4.b.i Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What happens with the entered data?
Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model.
This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate
the results for your product.

data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
data
entry
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Internal
data
model
1
2
3

Internal
database

dataset
1
dataset
2
dataset
3

Materia
ls

Manufa
cturin
g

Results

4
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Bio-based plastics

End of
life

Step 4

4.b.ii Understand why the data is
needed and what happens with the
entered data
What background datasets are used and why?
The tool comes with some background datasets to
ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental
data related to some consumption metrics.
The most typical example are the country specific
emission factors for electricity:
•
kg of greenhouse gas emissions of
power generation in a given country,
aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh
electricity consumed by a product or
process
This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly
available sources.
Further data sets allow to link your consumption
data or design data with the anticipated
environmental impacts. This is meant to help you:
Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain
the “real” environmental impacts of your product,
you are provided with ready-made data as a sound
approximation of “your” reality.

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 5

5.

Review the result

Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available
impact categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots
and the robustness of the result

4

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6

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Step 5

5.a.i Understand the result
How is the result displayed?
Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

s

1) Data table („Detailed
Results“)
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

3) pdf & excel reports

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.ii Understand the result
What are Environmental impact categories, how are they defined and why are
they used?
Environmental impacts are any change to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s or
product’s environmental aspects. The environment is complex, and so is the
range of environmental impacts. A non-exhaustive list of environmental
impacts frequently seen in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessments are:
•
Global Warming
•
Resource Depletion
•
Human Toxicity
•
Ecotoxicity
•
Acidification
•
Eutrophication
•
(Loss of) Biodiversity
•
Ozone Depletion
•
Summer Smog
If you want to know more about any of these impact categories, follow the
links to the wikipedia entries.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iii Understand the result
How to compare environmental impact categories against each other?
The challenge is, that it is hardly possible to value one kind of impact
against another. There are some approaches to normalize and weigh
environmental impacts with some kind of environmental “points”, but that
doesn’t help laymen to understand the environmental issue behind the
assessment.
The “LCA to go” consortium screened the relevancy of individual impact
categories for individual sectors and the tool simplifies things by
neglecting the less relevant ones. You should keep in mind, that there is
some (minor) risk to overlook an important impact.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.a.iv Understand the result
What is a Key Environmental Performance Indicator and why is it used?
Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) quantify potential
environmental impacts, benefits or metrics of high relevancy for a given
sector. KEPIs are the environmental result of an assessment, which allow a
benchmarking or a comparison of scenarios.
Examples are:
•
energy-break-even-point (payback of energy invested in
production of photovoltaic systems)
•
environmental-break-even-point (after which operation time
are the production related global warming gas emissions set
off by saved CO2 emissions)
•
(positive) carbon footprint of a photovoltaic system over
full lifetime
•
carbon emissions of a computer life cycle per year of usage
•
Cumlative Energy Demand (CED) of a machine tool over ist
entire lifetime
•
Carbon footprint per capacity of a bio-based plastic
packaging

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.i Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
What is an environmental hotspot?
If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing
a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy,
you might need to know more than just a carbon footprint figure. You
should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.
Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input
parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental
hotspots.
Some examples:
•
For a mobile electronics product it is not the package,
although recycled cardboard is very popular, it is the
electronics: Printed circuit board and semiconductors
•
For a bio-based plastic packaging, some processing steps are
often relevant
•
For a sensor system used in energy-intensive industries don‘t
bother for too long about the production of the sensor
system, pay attention to the positive use stage impact
•
For a machine tool, do not worry too much about the assembly
and welding together of the parts, the important hotspot is
the energy used in the 15-25 years that it is in use to
produce goods.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.ii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How to deal with environmental hotspots?
When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check
for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:
•
What drives your impacts?
•
How to minimise overall impacts?
Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have
you got the power to make a change?

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Bio-based plastics

Step 5

5.b.iii Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data
How robust are the results?
The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness
of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy
those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity
analysis:
Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and
maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change
much?

Optimized cast-sheet

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized thermoforming

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Bio-based plastics

Sector specific course / Step 6

6.

Interpret the result & derive

improvements
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

5

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Step 6

6.a.i Draw conclusions from the
result
What conclusions can I draw from the result?
This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the
assessment?
Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:
•
If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are
basically done. Latest now you should think about your
communication strategy with respect to green credentials of
your product or service.
•
If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on
the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which
ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility
and economics of related measures.
•
If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract
major findings and benefits identified, complement the
environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral
tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the
result
What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental
assessment?
Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have
learnt from this exercise:
•
Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which
might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in
your business
•
Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of
before, getting insights on these
•
Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your
product
Also large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”,
they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement
measures
Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product
type of my product?
In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two
examples are shown)
Life Cycle for a Raw material
intensive product

1.Material intensive
2.Manufacturing intensive
3.Distribution intensive
4.Use intensive
5.End of life intensive
Life Cycle for a Use intensive
product

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement
measures
What is the general improvement strategy for
each basic product type?
It is important to identify the basic
product type to identify the appropriate
improvement strategy. Several tools exist to
help you define an improvement strategy for
your product. The improvement strategy
focuses on the major improvement options
which in turn consist of several measures,
which may or may not be applicable to your
product. As an example for a use intensive
product, the following improvement strategy
has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one
such tool:

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Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.b.iii Derive appropriate
improvement measures
What improvement options can I derive from the result?
Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been
identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their
contribution to the improvement of the product.
Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their
implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be
implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not
feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/
The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of
improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one
life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the
environmental performance of the product as a whole.
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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.i Prepare the result for
communication
For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?
You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating
that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is
clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool
provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims
on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated
take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a
complementary piece of information.
If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to
enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go
consortium for assistance.
As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it
does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040
and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use
your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change
over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.ii Prepare the result for
communication
What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to
my audience?
Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty
good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly
level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental
credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies.

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Bio-based plastics

Step 6

6.c.iii Prepare the result for
communication
How can I best highlight the main conclusions?
So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?
We shrunk the assessment down to some scientifically highly relevant
KEPIs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target
audience, internally and externally.

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Bio-based plastics

Definitions

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

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Cradle to Gate
Data Quality Indicator
Environmental aspect
Environmental hotspot(s)
Environmental impact
Environmental management system (EMS)
Environmental performance
Impact category
LCA to go
Life Cycle
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle stages
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME
Robustness
Scenario

Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment.
The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the
raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point
– the “factory gate”.
It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and
“end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA
(downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and
adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and
reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in
three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the
input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental management
system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement
its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental
aspects

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Definiti

Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle
inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definiti

Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental
performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based
Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts
since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.
http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definiti

Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing
consumption and production strategies towards a more
coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle
of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering
the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one
life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to
another and from one environmental medium or protection
target to another is avoided.”

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In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if
you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain
(maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages
should
be
taken
into
account
when
it
comes
to
environmental performance of your product. That prevents
from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by
eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable
decisions.
Definiti

Definition: Life cycle stages

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In
general,
„Materials“,
„Manufacturing“,
„Distribution“, „Use“ and
„End of life“ are defined
as the five life cycle
stages of a product. Keep
in mind that depending on
your product, it may be End of
that not all of these are
„transparent“ for you.
If – for example – one
produces screws or nails,
the „Use“ stage will be
completely in the dark. On
the other hand, deciding on
the
used
materials
influences
the
recyclability at the “End
of
life”
and
efforts
related to “Raw Materials”
extraction.
The life cycle built from
the five stages is shown onDefiniti

Materials

life

Use

Manufacturin
g

Distribution

Definition: Micro, small and mediumsized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) is made up of
enterprises which employ fewer
than 250 persons and which have
an annual turnover not
exceeding 50 million euro,
and/or an annual balance sheet
total not exceeding 43 million
euro.” [EC 2005]
Next figure shows an overview
about the thresholds of SMEs
defined by the European
Commission.

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Source: EC 2005

Definiti

Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the
results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest
impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definiti

Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in
distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow
for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be
found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact
distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn
more…

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Definiti

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics

Step by step guide to environmental assessment
with the LCA to go tool:

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1. Define the scope for the env. ass. of the
PLA clamshell
2. Collect data on the LC of the of the PLA
clamshell
3. Model the Life cycle of the bio-based PLA
clamshell
4. Enter data of the of the PLA clamshell into
the online LCA to go tool
5. Review the result for the PLA clamshell
6. Interpret the result & derive improvements
Definiti
for of the PLA clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: bio-based plastics (B)
B.1. Define the scope
Substeps:
a.Define the goal and scope
b.Define the functional unit
c.Define the reference flow
d.Define the product system and the unit processes
e.Drawing the process tree
f.Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle
stages (raw materials, manufacturing, packaging &
distribution, use and end-of-life)
g.Define other requirements

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.a. Defining the Goal and scope
for an environmental assessment of a
PLA clamshell
Why: To generate an environmental profile of a
PLA clamshell for packaging of strawberries and
identify the key environmental issues related to
this product.
Who: Designers and engineers working on the
upgrade of the current & development of new
alternatives of thermoformed packaging for fruit.
The assessment could be also of interest for
policy makers.
What: Use the results to suggest new product
improvements and compare different alternatives
of thermoformed clamshells with respect to their
environmental performance.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.b. Defining a Functional unit for
an environmental assessment of a PLA
clamshell
The product function of the PLA clamshell is to contain and protect a
certain amount of strawberries (e.g.: 200 kg in grocery stores).
Currently there are a wide range of thermoformed clamshells, most of them
manufactured usually of PET. Bio-based packaging is also gaining interest
in certain markets for fruit and vegetables, so bio-based ones could be an
alternative.
Functional unit for the bio-based clamshell should be established by
capacity (usually in mass).

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.c. Defining a Reference flow for
an environmental assessment of the
PLA clamshell
The reference flow is a measure of the amount of product needed to realize
the function as indicated in the functional unit. Since the functional
unit is to contain and protect a certain amount of strawberries, the
reference flow will be the amount of clamshells required to fulfil such
amount of material. For instance, if the functional unit is 200 kg of
strawberries in the market, and we have to compare a three thermoformed
clamshells with different carrying capacity, then the reference flow will
be:
Alternative

Product
contained
(kg)

Functional
unit (kg)

Number of clamshells required to
perform the capacity of the
package = reference flow

A

0,2

200

200/0,2 = 1000 clamshells

B

0,25

200

200/0,25 = 800 clamshells

C

0,16

200

200/0,16 = 1250 clamshells

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.d.Defining the Product system and
Unit processes for a PLA clamshell
Define the individual processes involved in the PLA clamshell over its lifetime

Raw materials
to produce it










Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Distribution
of the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling of
the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Throw away the
clamshell
(end-of-life)

Raw materials: main constituents (in form of pellets) used to produce the
clamshell (PLA, PET, etc.) + transport of raw materials to the manufacturer
Manufacturing of the clamshell: considering drying of pellets, cast sheet/film
extrusion, intermediate transport of thermoforming sheets to the packer and
thermoforming of the clamshells (mainly as electricity consumption)
Distribution of the filled clamshells to grocery stores: includes transport to
the stores + packaging materials used to distribute clamshells filled with
strawberries (e.g.: corrugated board boxes, pallets, etc.)
Use of the clamshell by the consumers: this step is often omitted as a the
packaging is not a energy consuming product during use. Distances covered by
consumers are usually shortest than the distances either for delivery of the
clamshells to the stores or acquire the raw materials.
End-of-life: includes the different end-of-life routes when the bio-based
clamshell is thrown away (i.e.: composting, landfilling, incineration, etc.)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.e. Drawing the process tree for a
PLA clamshell
Transport NL to ES
1720 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Raw materials
to produce
it: PLA

Manufacturing
of the
thermoforming
sheet by cast
sheet/film
extrusion

Transport of filled PLA
clamshells by truck 3.5-7.5 t

Intermediate
transport of
the
thermoforming
sheet to the
fruit packer

Thermoforming
and filling
of the
clamshells.
Distribution
to grocery
stores

Intermediate transport in ES
250 km by truck 3.5-7.5 t

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Use of the
clamshell by
consumers

Transport packaging
for delivery of
filled PLA clamshells

Throw away
the clamshell
(end-of-life)

Transport from waste
collection point to
waste treatment
plants clamshells 25
km by truck

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.f. System boundary of the 5 life
cycle stages for the PLA clamshell
•

•

Raw materials
• Includes: natural resource extraction
and production of raw materials used
to produce the pellets acquired by
•
the manufacturer + transport distance
covered from suppliers to converting
plant
• Excludes: packaging of the raw
materials from pre-processing to the •
manufacturing plant due to data gaps.
Manufacturing
• Includes: amount of raw materials
used during converting as well as
electricity use, cooling water,
•
lubricating oil for converting
equipment. Scrap production during
manufacturing as well as intermediate
transports are also considered.
• Excludes: the impact related to
capital equipment = the impacts
related to machinery production, use
and dismantelling. Therefore only

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operational impacts of consumables
for the machinery (electricty, water
and oil) are considered.
Packaging and distribution
• Includes: all packaging materials
used to distribute the filled
clamshells to the shops + transport
for delivery of the clamshells
Use
• Excludes: the whole stage as
clamshells are not an energy
consuming product during the use
stage
End-of-life
• Includes: transport for waste
collection from collection points to
waste treatment plants
• Excludes: transport from household to
waste collection points

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.1.g. Other requirements for the
system boundary for a PLA clamshell
•

Geographical boundary:
• Please select the most
appropiate geographical location •
for the selection of the
electricity mix (e.g.:
manufacturing of the PLA pellets
could be made in the US and then
converted into thermoformed
sheets and clamshells in Sweden.
Then the electricity mixes from
the US and Sweden must be
considered.
• Please be careful with the
transport distances entered.
Large distances may imply a big
increase of emissions which may
be reflected in some impact
categories like carbon footprint
or acidification.
•
• In case of end-of-life stage
selected please look at the most
adjusted configuration in your
geographical area of interest
(e.g.: may be there are not
composting facilities in the
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location you wanted to sell your
bio-based PLA clamshells!).
Technological boundary:
• Not all the materials can be
converted into plastics products
with every converting process.
The LCA to go tool for bio-based
plastics will assist you in this
selection.
• Even though LCA to go tool
provide you default values for
drying, converting and finishing
processes for bio-based
plastics, please make an effort
to enter your own data. The more
accurate data you enter, the
more adjusted results to your
real situation.
Lack of data
• Please be careful with data you
are not capable to compile. In
the event of you do not know
which value has to be entered we
recommend you to use the default
data included in the tool.

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.2. Collect Data
Substeps:
a. Identify necessary data & defining a cut-off rule
for simplification
b. Define the depth and quality of data needed
c. Identify & keep track of the data source
d. Identify & keep track of the data quality for the
environmental assessment

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.i. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell

Optional data

Manufacturing

Type and amount of
materials used to
manufacture the
clamshell

Amount of raw material
processed during drying (*if
needed) + drying temperature &
time

Transport for raw
materials
acquisition

Amount of material processed
during converting of the
clamshell (Cast sheet/film
extrusion & thermoforming) +
production scraps + electricity
use + cooling water +
lubricating oil + additional
transport
Cost of electricity consumed
during drying

Cost of raw
materials (with
transport
included)

Cost of electricity consumed
during converting + cost of
cooling water + cost of
lubricating oil + cost for
additional transport (if any)
Cost of electricity and
ancillary materials for
finishing processes (if any)

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Distribution

Transport
distance + amount
of packaging
required to
distribute the
filled clamshells
to the grocery
store

Cost of transport
of filled
clamshells and
packaging
materials needed
to distribute
them (pallet,
boxes, etc.)

Use

End-of-Life

Not required

Not required

Necessary data

Raw materials

Select one predefined end-oflife scenario

Create your own
end-of-life
scenario (*if
required)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.a.ii. Identify necessary data for the
environmental assessment: Defining a cut-off
rule for simplification
Material inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell
(fictional example)
PLA
Additives
Estimated total mass

Respective
mass [g]
12,4
0,1
12,5

Cumulative mass
as a percentage
of total mass [%]
99,2%
0,8%
100%

Decision rule for mass inclusion: 99.2% of total weight

Energy inputs to produce the PLA
clamshell (fictional example)

Drying
Cast sheet/film extrusion
Thermoforming
Forming (die-cutting)
Estimated total energy

Power
consumption
[Wh]
93
565
12
2
672

Cumulative energy
as pecentage of
total energy
consumption[%]
13,84%
84,1%
1,78%
0,3%
100%

Decision rule for energy inclusion: 99.7% of total energy
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.b. Define the depth and quality of data
needed for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell

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Manufacturing

Preferably use your
own data collected inData for main
situ about electricity
constituents of the
use, operation time &
clamshell. Mass cuttemperature, use of
off rule for minor
water for cooling,
raw materials applies
lubricating oil &
production scraps
In case of doubts or
lack of data default
Transport distances
values are available,
covered from raw
although the accuracy
materials suppliers
and the uncertainty
to the converter are
of your calculation
required
will be higher in case
own data is used
Own cost of raw
materials must be
Own costs must be
entered in case the entered in case the
user decide to carry user wants to carry
out a gate-to-gate
out a gate-to-gate
cost assessment of
cost assessment of the
the PLA clamshell
clamshell production
production

Distribution

Use

Transport distances
covered to deliver the
clamshells to the
grocery stores. The
transport mode can be
selected by the user
from several options

Type and amount of
packaging materials
for delivery of PLA
clamshells must be
selected by the user
Own costs for
transport and
packaging materials
must be entered in
case gate-to-gate cost
assessment to produce
the clamshells is
needed

Not required

Depth and quality of data necessary

Raw materials

End-of-Life

In case the user
knows the end-oflife scenario for
the targeted
area, customized
end-of-life
scenarios can be
entered

If not default
data is provided,
although results
will be less
accurate

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.c. Identify & keep track of the data
source

Data source

Materials

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Engineering
department
Purchasing
department

Manufacture

Engineering
department
Production
department

Distribution

Use

End-of-Life

Marketing and
Sales
department
Engineering
department
Logistics &
Distribution
department

Not required

Engineering
department

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.2.d Identify & keep track of the data
quality for the environmental assessment of
the PLA clamshell
Please define the level of quality of the data used in accordance with the
following guidelines
Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

Reliability

On-site measured data or
verified data provided by a
third party

Data partly based on
assumptions or combined
on-site measured data
with default data

Only default data used

Completeness

Representative data from a
sufficient sample of
production sites or company
specific data

Representative data
from a smaller number
of production sites

Representativeness
unknown or incomplete
data

Temporal
correlation

Data with less than three
years of difference to year
of the study

Less than six years
difference

Age of data unknown or
more than 6 years of
difference

Geographical
correlation

Data from the Country where
the product is manufactured

Data from a
Country/area with
similar production
conditions

Unknown geography or
data from Country/area
with different
production conditions

Technological
correlation

Data based on current
industrial manufacturing
technologies

Data from pilot plants

Data based on
laboratory trials

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.3. Model the Life Cycle
Substeps:
a. Review available data and bring it into a useful
format, making assumptions where necessary
b. Develop Scenarios for the Raw material stage
c. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution phase
d. Develop Scenarios for the End-of-Life phase

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

Optional data

Raw materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Km covered for the
transport of raw
materials shall
include only the
transport from the
supplier to the
converter in order to
reduce uncertainty and
the efforts requiered
for data collection

Please use your
specific data from
your converting
machinery based on
technical data sheets,
production and
operational hours for
production.

Distribution
scenarios shall
be built based on
the information
provided by Sales
and Marketing
Department,
taking into
account that
packaging used
for delivery
might change as
function of your
customer/destination/mode of
transport

If raw materials come
from several suppliers
please calculate and
average as function of
the tonnes supplied.
Cost of raw materials
shall include the
transport cost. Please
look at the invoices
or contact your
Purchasing Department

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Scraps refers to the
amount of pellets
which are not reprocessed in the
converting equipment
(discarded materials)
Cost of electricity,
lubricating-oil and
cooling water could be
calculated from your
invoices

Cost of transport
can be either
calculated from
Logistics &
Distribution or
Sales and
Marketing
Department

Use

Not required

Necessary data

B.3.a. Review available data and bring it
into a useful format, making assumptions
where necessary for the PLA clamshell
End-of-Life
Please do not
assume the default
end-of-life
scenarios in case
you already know
that one of
various of the
waste treatments
do not take place
in the area where
the PLA clamshell
is sold.

Public data from
Governmental
Bodies is a good
source to make an
assumption for the
end-of-life
modelling of the
clamshell

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.b. Raw material scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to proceed if you have several raw material suppliers? An example:
Please enter all data separately in
the bio-based plastics LCA to go tool

PLA supplier A
(700 ton/year, 500 km,
91.9% PLA raw material
used at manufacturing)

PLA supplier B (50
ton/year, 1700 km, 6,6%
PLA raw material used at
manufacturing)

PLA supplier C (12
ton/year, 6100 km ship +
150 truck, 1,6% PLA raw
material used at
manufacturing)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.c. Distribution scenario development
for the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize the delivery of PLA clamshells to grocery stores? An example:

+

+

+
80 km
truck 3,5-7,5 t

40 clamshells/box
20 boxes/pallet
0,55 kg/box
22 kg/pallet
0,5 kg stretch film/pallet

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.3.d. End-of-Life scenario development for
the environmental assessment of the PLA
clamshell
How to modellize end-of-life of the PLA clamshell? An example:

Composting (40%)
Fictional
scenario
in Spain

Landfilling (50%)

Incineration (10%)

Please fill in a
customized scenario in
the bio-based plastics
LCA to go tool
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.4. Enter data
Substeps:
a. Enter data for all 5 life cycle phases
b. Understand why the data is needed and what
happens with the entered data
c. State the quality of the data used (optional)
d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment (optional)

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.i Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
1st step: Please
enter the total
amount of material
which is used to
produce the
clamshell,
including the extra
amount of material
which is lossed as
scrap during
converting

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.ii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
2nd step: Then
enter all the
data related to
the transport of
the supply of raw
materials. Please
be careful if
different
suppliers are
used!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iii Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
3rd step: Please
describe the
converting of the
PLA into
thermoformed
clamshells in
accordance with
the following
scheme

Production of PLA thermoforming sheets by
cast sheet/film extrusion

Transport of intermediate thermoforming
reels: from thermoforming sheets producer
to the fruit packer factory

In-line thermoforming of the clamshells and
filling

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.iv Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
4th step: Enter
the data related
to the packaging
used for the
delivery of the
clamshells filled
with
strawberries.
Please be careful
to consider only
the weight of the
packaging
material
(strawberries
weight
excluded)!!!

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.a.v Enter data for all 5 life cycle
phases for the PLA clamshell
5th step: As an
optional step,
please enter data
about the end-oflife routes of the
product.
Recommended if you
are interested in
a cradle-to-grave
assessment
Do not forget that
the bio-based
plastics LCA to go
tool only Global
Warming results
for the end-oflife stage. This
is due to the lack
of reliable
background data
for other impact
categories beyond
Global Warming
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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.i What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
Finally select the
desired impact
categories in
which you are
interested

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.b.ii What happens with the data entered
for the PLA clamshell
The data that is entered is multiplied with the corresponding KEPI‘s from
the Life Cycle Inventory Database to give the Environmental load for each
specific part of the life cycle. The total loads can be summed over the
life cycle stages to give the overall environmental load of the product.
In the case of bio-based plastics, nine impact categories are used to
describe the environmental load of the PLA clamshell:

Global Warming*

Water footprint

Land use

Cumulative Energy Demand (renewable)

Cumulative Energy Demand (non-renewable)

Eutrophication

Acidification

Photochemical Ozone Creation

Respiratory inorganics
*End-of-life only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of
realiable data related to other impact categories
Click on the button
to generate impact assessment results.
Do not forget to enter first data quality by clicking on the button

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.i State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
It is highly
recommended to
specify the quality
of the data prior to
generate the results.
Please go to data
quality section

Follow the guidelines
for setting the
quality of the data
you have
collected/used: data
from lab trials, data
from industrial
production, old data,
etc.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.c.ii State the quality of the data used
for the PLA clamshell (optional)
When it is clear for
you, enter the
quality level of your
data as function of
the life cycle stage

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.4.d. Gate-to-gate economic assessment for
the PLA clamshell (optional)
For those interested
in a gate-to-gate
economic assessment
please go to the
Economic Data
section.

This is an optional
step.
Only costs under the
operational and/or
financial control of
the SME are
considered.

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.5. Review the results
Substeps:
a. Understand the result & the available impact
categories
b. Identify major environmental hotspots and the
robustness of the underlying data

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.a. Understand the result & the
available impact categories
As already explained a range of different impact categories can be selected
and used for calculation in the LCA to go tool for bioplastics. However, it
is highly recommended to understand what does it mean each one of these
impact categories. Please refer to the following table which is also
available in the tool.
Impact category

What does it mean?

Global warming

Is the effect of increasing temperature in the lower atmosphere. The increasing temperature level may also result in regional
climate change. Is measured in kg CO2-eq. Commonly known also as carbon footprint

Water footprint

In LCA to go sectorial tool for bio-based plastics is understood as the accumulated consumption of water from any source. Only
direct water use considered (no side effects)

Land use

Loss of land as a resource, in the sense of being temporarily unavailable. Indirect land use changes (ILUC) are not considered

Cumulative Energy Demand
(CED), renewable and nonrenewable

Represents the cumulative amount of energy used along the life cycle of the product. Non-renewable CED refers to fossil,
nuclear and primary forests , whereas renewable CED refers to energy from renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar,
geothermal and water sources

Eutrophication

Is the enrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to increased production of plankton, algae and higher aquatic
plants leading to a deterioration of the water quality and a reduction in the value of utilization of the aquatic ecosystem

Acidification

Acidification is caused by reléase of protons in the terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems causes acid lakes
without any wildlife, whereas at terrestrial ecosystems a dieback of the forest and may also affect buildings, constructions,
sculptures, etc.

Photochemical Ozone
Creation

Photochemical ozone formation is caused by degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of light and
nitrogen oxide (Nox). Exposure of plants to ozone may result in damage of the leaf surface, leading to damage of the
photosynthetic function, discolouring, of the leaves, dieback of leaves and finally the whole plant. Exposure of humans to
ozone may result in eye irritation, respiratory problems m and chronic damage of the respiratory systems.

Respiratory inorganics

Represents the respiratory health effects of inorganic particles released into the air

*End-of-life stage only considers Global Warming impacts due to lack of reliable data related to other impact categories

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.i. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Main hotspots:
a) Raw materials in
Global Warming,
Cumulative Energy
Demand,
Acidification and
Respiratory
Inorganics
b) Processing
specifically in
Water Footprint
c) Transport
packaging for the
delivery of the
clamshells to
grocery stores in
almost all impact
categories

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Be careful! Illustrative
data used. Please have a
look for more detailed
data about end-of-life
scenarios

Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.5.b.ii. Identify major environmental
hotspots and the robustness of the
underlying data for the PLA clamshell
Where to act in Global Warming (Carbon Footprint)?
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm

Improve the amount of raw
materials used, the processing and
packaging requirements for
delivery to customers

Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Results expressed considering a functional unit of 200 kg of strawberries = 1000
units of PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B. Case study: Bio-based plastics (B)
B.6. Interpret the results
Substeps:
a. Draw conclusions from the result
b. Derive appropriate improvement measures
c. Prepare the result for distribution /
communication

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.i Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

a) Ecodesign of the PLA clamshell
Assumption: all clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of strawberries)

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g

Rectangular PLA
clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

Rectangular PLA clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g
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Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.ii Draw conclusions from the result
and derive appropriate improvement measures
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
b) Parallel evaluation of internal costs of product alternatives at
company level based on design
Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Cost for 1000 units based in
fictional values

Gate-to-gate costs (€)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g

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Rectangular PLA
clamshell
120 x 65 mm
Unitary weight: 10.9 g

Assumption: all
clamshells have the
same capacity (200 g of
strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200
kg of strawberries =
1000 units of PLA
clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iii Draw conclusions from the
result and derive appropriate improvement
measures for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
c) Improve the logistic supply chain
Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell 115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95 x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

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Assumption: all clamshells
have the same capacity (200 g
of strawberries). Results
expressed considering a
functional unit of 200 kg of
strawberries = 1000 units of
PLA clamshells

Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.a/b.iv Draw conclusions from the result
for the PLA clamshell
The goal of the study was to analyse the environmental hotspots of a PLA
clamshell. It can clearly be seen that there is a clear room from
improvement in several areas like:
d) Improve processing

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Optimized cast-sheet

Optimized thermoforming

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Case Study Bio-based Plastic

B.6.c. Prepare the result for distribution
/ communication of the environmental
assessment of the PLA clamshell

Global Warming (kg CO2-eq)

Rectangular PLA clamshell
115 x 80 mm
Unitary weight: 12.5 g
800 units/pallet

Square PLA clamshell 95
x 95 mm
Unitary weight : 11.2 g
900 units/pallet

Less carbon
footprint!

How do I
publish these
results?

Your environmental improvement reported
and reviewed by experts

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Support for a detailed calculation and
development of reports in accordance
with ISO 14040-44, ISO/TS 14067:2013,
PAS 2050:2011, critical review,
Environmental Product Declarations
(EPD’s)